New York
by a slice of heaven
Summary: Lily goes to New York City.  This is in memory of 9/11.


**Hey guys! My cousin and I wrote this because we were bored AND IT'S 9/11. Enjoy and R&R please?**

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><p>It was Lily's first trip to America. It wasn't a holiday, sad to say, because honestly the only thing she liked about going around with her family and not her friends was going on vacation. They'd argued just this morning, her and her parents, her brothers off somewhere. She hadn't even wanted to come, really. But she had to, because this was James' wedding.<p>

Yes. Her brother, the big-headed jerk, James 'I Will Sleep With Every Girl on the Planet' Potter, was actually getting married.

In New York.

Frankly, she and Albus had had a bet on that he'd never get married. Al, always supportive and at that time completely sappy because he'd just gotten together with his childhood best friend (the only girlfriend of his that their parents had ever approved of), assured her that their oldest sibling would no doubt someday bring back a gorgeous Italian chick who didn't speak a word of English but was otherwise very skillful. She'd snorted, looked at Jamie snogging one girl and grinning at another next to the fireplace of the common room, and betted fifty galleons that he would be forever alone.

But no, on his twentieth birthday, back from Quidditch practice in France, he'd brought home a puppy for Lily and Al, perfume for Mum, a pretty French girl and a wedding ring.

"Lils, fancy going for a walk?" the only other girl present who'd refused to be a bridesmaid, Al's aforementioned girlfriend of goodness-knows-how-long — three or four years? — Natalie stuck her head of brown curls into Lily's hotel room, face red and obviously just back from an epic adventure to Al's room.

"Sure," she shrugged, not minding being interrupted from her flight down memory lane, because she had appearances to keep up. Hell, she wasn't even going to congratulate James. She got up, grabbed the bright red trench coat that her boyfriend — _ex_, they'd just broken up, she really had to remember that — had given her before graduation, pulled on a beret, slipped on a pair of heeled boots that she knew would make dad threaten to push her off the balcony, and followed Nat off to the elevator.

She still couldn't get used to the weird things Muggles came up with.

"So where are we going?" she asked Nat, who was trying to flatten her hair in the mirror of the lift and fan her blush away. Definitely a lunchtime tryst with her brother.

"I was thinking we could go to the World Trade Centre," Natalie said with a casual smile, flattening _her_ coat, a gift from Albus (Lily knew because he'd dragged her along and they'd spent a whole day in one posh, expensive shop).

"The _what_?" Lily repeated, blinking. She liked Nat; it was okay being herself in front of her. It was weird that one of the only people she could open up to was a Gryffindor (her brothers didn't count) when she herself was in Slytherin, but like Albus and Scorpius, everyone already acknowledged the oddness of this friendship and it didn't surprise anyone anymore.

"World Trade Centre," the girl replied with a shrug. "Lad I ran into on the stairs said he was going to sing on the streets there and asked if I wanted to go. Might as well, yeah?"

That was Nat for you. Lily could swear she never even realized when guys flirted with her, and there wasn't any shortage of those.

"Set," Lily shrugged. "It was that or Barney's anyway. I'm sick of shopping, let's go."

And so off they went, walking to this World Trade Centre place.

Lily actually really liked New York. She decided she might come back here if mum and dad didn't leash her down, study Muggle-like here, get a degree, start a fashion store, something. There was something about the grid like structures, the bustling people, the colours and the noises and everything.

Nat, in a sensible beanie and boots, chirped happily away, a good filler for Lily's thoughtful silence. That was partly why they got on quite well. They were about the same age, Lily was quiet and Nat noisy, both were huge social butterflies, Nat was interested in everything and Lily couldn't be bothered, Nat was happy and Lily more calm.

Breathing in the city air reflectively, she listened to Nat as their shoes clicked on the pavement in unison.

Her companion talked about school, friends, Al, parties, Al, her parents, some book, Al, a museum, food, shopping and Al. It was quite relaxing to listen to, not because she didn't appreciate it, but because Nat gave everything a different perspective. A happier one.

Before too long, they'd reached their destination. Actually, they'd been walking a few streets off, but a few blocks down there'd been a huge crowd making plenty of noise, so they'd veered off to join said crowd, and found themselves staring up at the World Trade Centre.

"Hmm," Nat muttered, standing still but being buffeted around by people. "Impressive."

"What is this even about?" Lily said crossly, back to her normal self, faced with all these people.

"9/11," said a girl next to them. They both turned to face her. She had curly blonde hair flying in every direction, and the first thing Lily thought was that she reminded her of a scarecrow. She'd obviously been crying, smeared make up very evident and holding tissue.

"Huh?" said Nat. Lily shrugged. Neither of them had taken Muggle Studies; neither had really wanted to.

"Where have you guys been?" the girl asked, amused. Lily and Nat exchanged looks. "A long time ago on September eleventh, some group of terrorists rammed a plane into this building."

"Doesn't look like it to me," Lily remarked dryly. Nat shot her a look.

Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to care. "They built it up again. But every year on this day, people still flood back to pay their respects. Some people say almost everyone lost someone they knew when the attacks happened, so…"

"Oh man," Natalie said, hugging the girl, not really surprising anyone. "How do you guys pay your respects?"

Lily was impressed. Nat had never asked a question in school, apparently. Ever. She was quite famous for it.

The girl shrugged, smiling gratefully at them, even though only Nat had actually hugged her. Strange. "We do all sorts of things. This whole street gathering is one. But yeah, everyone all over the world kind of just, I don't know, remembers this day." She smiled sadly at the building. "My grandfather died in this, says my mom. She says they'd argued that morning, and she never got to say goodbye."

Quite saddened by this fact, they talked for just a while more. Then Lily, pretending to get bored even though to be honest she wanted to hear more, tugged at Nat's sleeve and they bid the girl farewell and strolled off back to the hotel because dinner was calling and both of them liked food. A lot.

Lily questioned the whole point of her existence sometimes.

"That was… Interesting," Lily surprises herself by breaking the reflective silence. Nat gives her a look of pleasant surprise and she knows why. She never talks unless she has to, so this is probably a first.

"Yes it was," Nat nods. "Sad, really. And what Ally said about her grandfather…" Her name was Ally? When had that happened? "Can you imagine never getting to say goodbye to your father?"

Lily stopped in her tracks.

She couldn't. Never seeing her parents again, as much as she hated them when they were around, she couldn't even imagine them being dead. And the thought that the last thing she'd ever said to her mom was an insult of the Scorpius Malfoy kind…

"Let's go home," she called to Nat, already taking off for the hotel at a run. She had to talk to her parents.

They reached the hotel in what was probably a record time, Nat catching up easily. Lily tapped her foot impatiently as they waited for the lift, and then sneakily fired a charm so that the elevator shot up its shaft like a bullet.

"Mum!" she burst through the door of their family suite, which she'd declined to share but swiped a cardkey off James anyway.

Her mother, red hair bunned up messily and in a plain white dress and hunched over a piece of paper, turned around with tired eyes. "Yes, Lily dear?"

Lily didn't know what made her do it, really, but she ran at her mother and hugged her. She hadn't hugged anyone like that in a while, and it brought memories flooding back, of her childhood snuggling with her family all five in a bed, of winter nights by the fireplace at Hogwarts, of love.

She pulled back slightly and looked into her mother's eyes. Mrs Potter was smiling in surprise. Lily, for the first time in years around someone who wasn't Nat or James, let down her guard.

"I love you, mum."


End file.
